


Switch From School

by AlmondRose



Series: Baby Bats [4]
Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Ice Cream, M/M, bruce bonding with clarks kids, clark bonding with bruces kids
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-31
Updated: 2016-07-31
Packaged: 2018-07-28 12:11:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,552
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7639693
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlmondRose/pseuds/AlmondRose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bruce picks up Clark's kids from school while Clark picks up Bruce's.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Switch From School

**Author's Note:**

> Dick and Babs are in 6th grade  
> Kara and Jason are in 5th grade  
> Cass is in fourth grade  
> Tim and Kon are in third grade  
> Steph is in second grade  
> and Damian, of course, is too little to be in school.

The bell rings and Kara gets up out of her seat, swinging her backpack over her shoulder. The teacher opens the doors to the classroom, and Kara and her fifth grade class rush out. Kara goes down the hall and out to the courtyard, where all the parents are milling around. There’s some of the lower grade classes with their teachers there, too. Kara waves goodbye to her friends and searches for either her dad or Aunt Lois, but she doesn’t see either. Instead, her eyes fall on a familiar man who’s looking right at her. 

 

It’s Mr. Bruce, her dad’s boyfriend. Kara knows him, but not that well, because normally when she sees him (dinners, the trip to the zoo last month), he has his kids with him, and Jason and Cass and Steph are  _ much  _ more interesting than he is. He’s also a little bit scary, not that Kara would ever say that out loud, of course. 

 

Mr. Bruce walks right over to her. She goes to meet him. 

 

“What are you doing here?” she asks. 

 

“I’m picking you up today. I have a note and everything,” he says, waving a piece of paper with her dad’s handwriting on it. 

 

“Oh,” Kara says. “Where’s my dad?”

 

“He’s picking up  _ my  _ kids,” Mr. Bruce explains. “We thought it would be a good idea to get to know you guys better.”

 

“Oh,” Kara says again. “So you drove all the way here just to pick us up?”

 

“Metropolis isn’t that far from Gotham,” he says. “And we’re going to have a sleepover at my house this weekend.”

 

“Will I get to stay in Cass’s room?” 

 

“If you want.”

 

“Cool!”

 

\----

 

Dick is talking to Babs and sitting on a brick wall, waiting for the big shiny black car to pick him up. Instead, a beat-up old pickup truck rolls up to the pick-up area. The window rolls down and Clark pokes his head out.

 

“I got lost on my way to the elementary school. Know the way?” he asks. Dick smiles. 

 

“You picking me up?” he asks. Clark nods. Dick turns to Babs. “Call you later?”

 

“Definitely,” she says, smirking. “And you still have to tell me about what happened with Zatanna.”

 

“I will, I promise,” Dick says. “You coming to Kori’s on Sunday?”

 

“For sure,” she says, and Dick turns to Clark. He moves to get in the car. 

 

“Want to ride in the front?” Clark asks. Dick’s eyes widen. 

 

“Um, yeah!” he says and he pulls open the shotgun door, sliding in. Clark pulls out of the roundabout. 

 

“How was school?” Clark asks. 

 

“Fine. How are all of us going to fit in the car?” Dick asks, craning his neck to look at the back seat. There was one carseat, probably left over from when Connor was little. 

 

“There’s a spare seat,” Clark says, patting the armrest between him and Dick. 

 

“Cool,” Dick says. “Is Dad still at work?” Clark’s never picked him up from school before, but Dick’s dad is busy a lot, so anything could happen. 

 

“No,” Clark says. “He’s picking up Kara and Connor.” Dick’s not sure how to respond to that. 

 

“Oh. Cool, I guess,” he says finally. Then he points down a road. “Turn there to get to the elementary school.”

 

\---

 

“So to pick up third graders, we have to go find them,” Kara explains. “They aren’t allowed to leave without the teacher’s say-so.”

 

“Okay,” Mr. Bruce says, smiling slightly. Kara realizes that Dad must have explained this all already, but she pushes on. 

 

“The third graders wait over there,” she says, pointing. 

 

“Lead the way,” Mr. Bruce says, and Kara eyes him but heads to the area where her brother’s class waits. They arrive and Kara immediately spots Connor. He’s talking to his friend Megan. Mrs. Riley, Kon’s teacher, goes over to Mr. Bruce and Kara. She frowns at Mr. Bruce and he pulls out his note. Kara excuses herself and goes over to her little brother. 

 

“Hey,” she says. 

 

“Kara!” Megan says.

 

“Hi,” Kon says. 

 

“Mr. Bruce is picking us up today,” Kara informs him. 

 

“Okay,” Kon says, then he turns back to Megan. Kara rolls her eyes. 

 

“Connor!” Mrs. Riley says. “You can leave.”

 

“Bye Megan,” Kon says. 

 

“Bye Kon,” Megan says shyly. “Bye Kara.”

 

“Bye,” Kara says, and she leads Kon over to Mr. Bruce. 

 

\----

 

Dick knows exactly what to do when he picks up his siblings, so Clark just follows behind him. 

 

“First we go get Steph,” Dick explains. “Since she’s littlest. We have to go to the gym to get her. Then Tim and Cass and Jason are at the playground.”

 

“Okay,” Clark says. “Sounds simple.”

 

“It is, really,” Dick says. “The gym’s this way.” He leads Clark to the back of the school. They walk in. All the kindergarten, first, and second graders are in there. There’s a woman with a microphone near the door. Clark hands her a note from Dick’s dad and she reads it quickly. 

 

“Stephanie Brown,” she says into her microphone. “You’re good to go.” Dick sees Steph at the back of the gym. She jumps up and waves at her friends--probably Cullen and Nell--and makes her way through the people, hopping over someone’s backpack and landing in front of Dick and Clark. 

 

“Heya,” she says. “Whatcha doin’ here, Clark?” 

 

“Picking you and your brothers up,” Clark says. “And maybe later we can get…” He leans down and stage-whispers “ice cream” in her ear. She giggles and Clark straightens up. “Don’t tell Dick.” 

 

“I won’t,” Steph promises, sealing her lips. Dick laughs. Steph glares at him and throws the imaginary key in her mouth. 

 

“Take that!” she says. “Now you’ll never know!”

 

“Never,” Dick says, and then he turns on his heel and faces the door. “To the playground!”

 

\---

 

“Your car is really fancy,” Kara says as she gets in the back. 

 

“Well, I am rich,” Mr. Bruce says. 

 

“Mr. Lex has fancy cars,” Kon offers. 

 

“He does,” Mr. Bruce says, driving away from the school. “He’s rich too.”

 

“Do you and Mr. Lex know each other?” Kara asks. She doesn’t really know Mr. Lex herself, seeing as he doesn’t really like her. He’s kinda mean. 

 

“Yes I do,” Mr. Bruce says. “We used to go to rich people school together.”

 

“Do you like him? I don’t,” Kara says. 

 

“Me neither,” Kon says. 

 

“I’m not terribly fond of him, no,” Mr. Bruce says, smiling in the rearview mirror. 

 

“Where are we going?” Kon asks, pressing his face against the window. Kara does the same. They’re still in Metropolis, she thinks. It’s prettier than Gotham is.

 

“Well….” Mr. Bruce says, and he pulls into a parking lot. They park and get out. Kara and Kon leave their backpacks in the car. Kara smiles when she sees where they are. The ice cream shop. “Don’t tell your dad,” Mr. Bruce winks. 

 

\---

 

“Don’t tell Dad about this,” Jason says, reaching his hands out for his neapolitan ice cream. Dick smiles over his mint chocolate chip. “He doesn’t approve of after school ice cream.”

 

“But it’s a Friday!” Clark says, handing Steph her cookie dough. “You should always get ice cream after school on Fridays.”

 

“Yeah you should!” Tim says, beaming. Dick licks his ice cream. 

 

“Dad would never do this, though,” he says. 

 

“Well, good thing I’m not Bruce, then,” Clark says. He hands the register his credit card, accepts his Superman ice cream, and leads the kids to a table. 

 

“I like you,” Steph announces suddenly when Dick’s almost done with his ice cream. 

 

“Who?” Jason asks. 

 

“Clark,” she says. Clark chuckles and wipes off her mouth, which has ice cream smeared all over it. 

 

“I like you guys, too,” he says. 

 

\---

 

“How far away is Gotham?” Kon asks once they’re back in the car. 

 

“About half an hour,” Mr. Bruce answers. “It won’t be long.”

 

“Okay,” Kon says, and Kara watches out the window. The pretty buildings of Metropolis slowly melt into the dark, ugly buildings of Gotham. Kara once heard Dick say that Gotham is the prettiest city ever. She doesn’t understand how, but she doesn’t say anything against it. She counts all the gargoyles--Gotham has a lot, and she’s never seen any in Metropolis--as they drive. Soon enough, they leave the buildings and drive up Mr. Bruce’s long, long driveway. Mr. Bruce parks the car and Kara and Kon jump out. 

 

“Hello, Miss Kara, Master Connor,” Alfred says, standing by the door. “Welcome back, Master Bruce. The others are inside.”

 

“Yeah!” Kon says, running past the butler and into the house. Kara spares a “hey Alfred,” before she follows her little brother in. She crashes inside and immediately Steph and Cass are there to greet her, followed by the rest of them. Kara hugs Dick and Jason, then pats Tim on the head--he and Kon are bouncing around too much for her to do anything else. Her dad comes in the room, holding Damian, and Kara leaps for her father, who hands Dami to Dick. 

 

“How was getting picked up by Bruce?” he asks as Mr. Bruce and Alfred come into the house, carrying Kara and Kon’s backpacks. 

  
“Pretty good,” she says. Her dad beams in return, and Kara sees Mr. Bruce smiling from the corner of her eye. 

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading! comments and Kudos are loved!


End file.
